Brought to you by Seahorse magazine, Scuttlebutt Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinions, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors -- with a European emphasis. Contributions welcome, send to

Race Day: Saturday 1st July: First start: 0530 The Round the Island Race in association with Cloudy Bay Management team led by Rear Commodore Sailing Dave Atkinson at the Island Sailing Club in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, is making last-minute preparations to welcome 1,342 yachts to eleven individual starts first thing on Saturday morning 1st July. The first start is scheduled for 0530 and the starting sequence will be completed by 0710 as the fleet heads west from Cowes to the Needles.

Among those signed up to race are last year's Gold Roman Bowl winner, Bernard Langley's TP52 Gladiator with (fresh from his Land Rover BAR America's Cup debut), David 'Freddie' Carr on board. The Race also welcomes back the Greig City Academy Sailing Team, the inspirational and ultra-competitive North London inner city state school entry Scaramouche.

Last year's runner-up to the record-breaking MOD70 Phaedo3 who took Line Honours, with the distinctive blue hulls of Concise 10 is back aiming to achieve that accolade this year. The record set by Phaedo^3 was an astounding 2 hours 23 minutes and 23 seconds, smashing the Multihull race record time set by Sir Ben Ainslie in 2013 by a stunning 28 minutes!

Somewhat more sedately but equally competitive, the Cloudy Bay Brand ambassador Ben Fogle is racing with the race sponsor's guests on board the Farr 52 Bob by Cloudy Bay, skippered by Stephen Durkin.

Racing for the FAST40+ Class continues with Round Two of the FAST40+ Race Circuit, consisting of one day of Windward Leeward racing tomorrow (Friday) followed by 11 FAST40s racing around the Island on Saturday for the FAST40+ Cloudy Bay Trophy.

The organisers are hosting their popular pre-Race press conference tomorrow (Friday) at the Island Sailing Club, followed later by the all-important Raymarine Weather Briefing at 1800hrs with meteorologist Simon Rowell.

GC32 Villasimius Cup Jason Carroll expertly steered his Argonauts to an early lead at the GC32 Villasimius Cup in Southern Sardinia today. The second stage of the 2017 GC32 Racing Tour got underway with four races in breeze ranging from 10 to 20 knots on flat water, and Team Argo from the USA won the second race and always finished in the top three.

The principal race officer Stuart Childerley had called for an early start at 10am this morning, for fear of the wind and the wave state building up too much for the high-flying, fast-foiling GC32s. As he motored out of the Marina di Villasimius, Childerley was alarmed at the waves rolling into the bay, but he pressed on with his plan to motor round Capo Carbonara and was delighted to find much flatter water in the eastern bay on the other side of the Cape and looking back on to the beautiful beach of the Valtur Tanka resort. It wasn't just sailable, it was pretty much spot on for GC32 racing.

Friday's forecast looks very fluky with the wind looking like it could come from any direction. From 4pm onwards a stronger northerly breeze is expected to arrive, but it's certainly going to be a different challenge from today's steadier south-westerly wind.

The aim is to hold up to five races each day on a mix of windward-leewards or ones with reaching starts/finishes, depending upon the wind conditions. A live blog from the race course can be found on the GC32 website along with Georacing tracking provided by the French company Trimaran.

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RC44 Porto Cervo Cup John Bassadone's Peninsula Petroleum holds a slender lead after three races and considerable patience from race officials and competitors alike on the opening day of the RC44 Porto Cervo Cup, hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. While conditions were forecast to be a brisk 15-20 knots, they were anything but this. After race one, the wind shut off for most of the afternoon before a light breeze filled in enabling two more races to sailed, finally completed at 1900 CET.

Race one kicked off at midday directly off Porto Cervo in 12-15 knots from the WNW. In this Russian Alexander Novoselov and his crew on Katusha did a good job to reach the top mark first. Maintaining control of the race from there was made easier as a rain squall passed over the course causing the race track to skew, the wind piping up to 20 knots before dropping to six for the final run.

Unfortunately this same cloud activity then caused the wind to vanish. As a result the nine-strong RC44 fleet was sent ashore leaving the race committee to wallow, waiting for the breeze to re-establish. This it finally did as crews were contemplating their first 'refreshment' of the day.

With the boats returned to the course, at 1700 the first of two races were held in 8-10 knots. Still very shifty, Nico Poon's Charisma led around the majority of the course only to be rolled in a photo finish by Peninsula Petroleum in race two and Kirill Frolov, at the helm of Bronenosec Sailing Team, got in an early gybe to take the lead and then defending well to the finish in race three.

Extreme Sailing Series Act 3 - Madeira Islands SAP Extreme Sailing Team took an early lead on the opening day of Extreme Sailing Series Act 3, as the international fleet of seven GC32s raced against the stunning backdrop of the Madeira Islands capital, Funchal, in front of a packed Race Village.

Following six races in shifty conditions, it was the Danish team that was able to narrowly secure the victory, but with NZ Extreme Sailing Team hot on its heels. The Kiwi syndicate had sat at the top of the leader board for most of the day, before being pipped to the post in the final race.

Alinghi, who won the Act in the Portuguese venue last season, finish the day in third, a further eight points behind NZ Extreme Sailing Team.

Despite a strong start for Land Rover BAR Academy, which opened with a second and a third consecutively, the British squad was unable to maintain its form. It followed up with three fifths and a seventh to finish in sixth overall.

The action resumes tomorrow, with the Flying Phantom Series scheduled for a 10:00 UTC+1 start, followed by GC32 Stadium Racing from 14:00 - 17:00 UTC+1

New Team for Clipper Race HotelPlanner.com, the leading online provider of group and individual travel services, will make its global ocean-racing debut as a Team Partner in the eleven-month duration Clipper 2017-18 Round the World Yacht Race, which will start from Liverpool, UK, on Sunday, 20 August, 2017.

The HotelPlanner.com yacht will be one of twelve teams participating in the eleventh edition of the unique 40,000 nautical mile, Clipper Race, which was founded in 1995 by legendary sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo non-stop around the globe in 1968-69, to allow everyday people the opportunity to follow his experiences.

HotelPlanner.com will provide the best rates for the Clipper Race crew and supporters in every port. It will also run competitions at stopovers for locals in an effort to create buzz for the HotelPlanner.com Skipper and team.

The Clipper 2017-18 Race will start in Liverpool on Sunday 20 August 2017 and return almost a year later on Saturday 28 July 2018, after following a global route which includes stopovers in Punta del Este, Cape Town, Fremantle, Sydney, Hobart, East Coast Australia (Port TBC), Sanya, Qingdao, Seattle, Panama, New York, and Derry Londonderry.

Industry News Boat International are delighted to present the third annual Ocean Awards, in partnership with leading ocean conservation charity Blue Marine Foundation. After two successful years, our ambition is to continue celebrating and supporting the inspiring individuals who have made the greatest strides in the ongoing struggle to fix the largest solvable problem on the planet - the crisis in our oceans.

For 2018 there are five award categories up for nomination and the winners will be decided by our dedicated panel of judges which include Princess Zahra Aga Khan and Peter Lurssen along with Professor Alex Rogers of the University of Oxford and Professor Callum Roberts of the University of York.

The agreement will see Adidas Sailing appointed as exclusive partner in the category of Clothing, Apparel, Accessories, Luggage and Footwear supporting the International 49er and Nacra 17 Class Associations by not only providing a dedicated range of clothing and equipment for Class Association staff and appointed event personnel, but also by sponsoring the televised media output from all class-specific events, presented via the 'Adidas Sailing Daily Show'.

An additional benefit of this partnership is that the International 49er and Nacra 17 Class Associations will be able to provide members and team supporters with access to a dedicated online retail store that will feature both a selection of customised 'Team wear' clothing featuring branding that highlights selected national teams and individual sailors, as well as access to a wide range of customised Adidas Sailing clothing and apparel featuring designs that include 49er, 49er FX and Nacra 17 branding. Class Association members and supporters will be able to benefit from special price offers discounted of the listed retail price on all purchases made through the 49er / Nacra 17 online store olympic-classes.catamaransports.com

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UK-based Ancasta International Boat Sales was named Best Dealer Sailing Yachts 2017 at Beneteau's annual dealer awards in Bordeaux, France this week.

Ancasta International Boat Sales is a UK-based yacht brokerage and boat dealership with 15 offices across Europe. The company is also a new-boat dealer for Beneteau Yachts, Beneteau Power, Lagoon Catamarans, Fairlie Yachts, CNB Yachts and McConaghy Yachts.

Marlow, the world's leading performance yachting rope, has again been selected as official supplier to the British Sailing Team as they embark on their journey to Tokyo 2020 and beyond.

Marlow and competitive sailing have a long and very successful relationship. Having already supported the British Sailing Team for the last 20 years, Marlow's cutting edge research and development of high performance rope has secured its position as the leading sailing rope in the world.

Great Britain is the world's most successful Olympic sailing nation, with British sailors topping the tables at four of the last five Olympic Games, including at Rio 2016, and emerging as top nation from the 2016 Olympic Classes World Championships and World Cup Series.

Doyle International has been sold to its New Zealand affiliate. Terms were not disclosed but the deal will be effective from July 1st.

Doyle Sails New Zealand has announced its ownership of Doyle International. The leadership team, headed by Mike Sanderson, David Duff and Richard Bouzaid, will also have controlling interests in the Doyle Salem loft and Doyle Sails Europe (UK).

The new owners have seen an opportunity to drive the Doyle brand to new levels of strategic growth.

Sanderson, a well known competitive sailor, has been involved in sail programs and integral to design and build teams for the Volvo Ocean Race, America's Cup and other events. He sees opportunities in the Grand Prix sailboat market.

Robbie Doyle, founder of Doyle Sails, will continue with the company by managing superyacht and other special projects.

The company also announced that Jez Fanstone is the new Corporate Manager and Terry Nicholas is Business Development/Chief Financial Officer. Jez is a past Volvo Ocean Race skipper, sailmaker, Olympic coach and Team Director. Nicholas is a Chartered Accountant and Business Development specialist. He has acted as Group CFO for Doyle Sails NZ during its transformation over the last five years. He has a background in Olympic sailing and Olympic programme management.

British marine and lifestyle clothing brand Henri Lloyd has committed their continued support to Phil Sharp Racing, and will be providing technical sailing clothing for Phil and his team, whilst they work towards ticking off the Energy Challenge objectives in sustainable high performance offshore racing and also competing in the 2017 Class 40 Championship.

Phil's role as a Henri Lloyd Ambassador will also include product development through the feedback of advanced material and product testing in harsh offshore and race environments.

In 2016, Phil racing aboard Imerys came 3rd in the Class 40 Championship after a late race-season entry and a dated sail package, and closed the year as a Guinness World Record holder. Ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council, Phil broke the existing record for the Channel by nearly three hours, becoming the fastest single-handed Channel crossing of any yacht below 60ft.

The Yacht Racing Forum is pleased to announce a two years partnership with SEAir, an innovative company that focuses on the latest technologies including foils. Established in Lorient (Britanny), SEAir is a key player in the nautical world, using its expertise to make boats fly. SEAir's flying Mini has - amongst other successful achievements - made a strong impact and obtained a worldwide audience.

SEAir will exhibit its latest developments during the next Yacht Racing Forum, and actively participate in the panel discussion dedicated to foils, in the Design & Technology Symposium.

The Yacht Racing Forum 2017 will take place on November 27-28 in Aarhus, Denmark, six months prior to World Sailing's World Championships. The leading annual conference for the business of sailing and yacht racing will once again reassemble the sports key personalities, events, sailing classes, clubs or sponsors. It will be the tenth edition of the event.

Letters To The Editor - Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.

* From Adrian Morgan:

So many takes on the America's Cup, depending on your perspective.

Those with a vested interest in hyping it up, commentators, organisers, TV pundits with a ring side seat and access to all areas who, despite the match itself being (be honest) a procession with just enough close calls to avoid being called boring, swear it was the best racing in America's Cup history.

Those who love technology swear the boats are the most exciting ever.

Even those with access to television complain at the frustration of spasmodic coverage

Those in Bermuda, those trying to keep in touch in a cottage with limited internet in the Highlands of Scotland, the Kiwis have a formidable task to manage the expectations of everyone next time around.

As Grant said, there were some good thing things to take away from Bermuda, implying a whole load of bad things, the chief being the cynical skewing of the event too far in the defender's direction.

The Kiwis destroyed that, clinically and quietly. That was immensely satisfying. My view,(from a cottage in the Highlands) has not changed from day 1. Speed alone is not enough, especially when a gybe looks much like a tack, and 27 knots looks a lot like 23 knots. Size matters too, and so do wind (lots of it), and waves.

One abiding impression: when Oracle's grinders ground their last, the sense of relief was palpable. Let's hope that next time around "the best sailors in the world" [sic], ideally from the country they represent, won't be chained to a pedestal but given meaningful tasks around a boat that looks a bit like the boats that millions of us sail, and sailing on a wide expanse of water, not boxed into a flat water stadium the size of a few football pitches.

* From Len Davies, Cape Town:

How sad to read of the passing of Dan Mc Connell.

As Race Officer for Cape Town legs of the BOC Around Alone Race on 3 occasions, I had the great fortune to meet Dan as he went about his duties of providing the world's press of the latest positional reports, distances to the finish and finishing times.

In seeking this information, he showed much consideration for the pressures others may have been under at the time. Never one to place his needs above those of others, he left a memorable impression on all he met. A ready smile and good grace always accompanied his greeting.

To his family and no doubt many friends, I extend my sympathies and thank you for sharing him with me, albeit it briefly.

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